Jump to Content
Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association

Articles tagged “Assault Weapon Ban”

Committee Vote on Castle Doctrine and 3 Anti-Gun Bills Tuesday

Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Castle Doctrine legislation – a move we’ve been waiting on since November 19 when they held a hearing! However, it comes at a price.

In addition to the vote on the important self-defense reforms, the committee is planning to vote on three anti-gun bills on the same day!

Contact the members of the House Judiciary Committee today. Tell them that you want their support on HB40 – the Castle Doctrine bill. This specific Castle Doctrine bill will ensure that law-abiding gun owners can feel safe knowing that they can defend themselves from attackers whether it is inside or outside your home. It also protects citizens from the expense of fighting civil lawsuits filed by criminals or their families when self-defense was justified.

But tell them that they must vote down the three gun control bills:

  • HB1043 which would create a “Firearm Trafficking Czar” and lead to another bureaucratic agency looking for ways to restrict gun sales in Pennsylvania.
  • HB1044 that would end preemption and allow cities to create their own gun bans and carry rules, and
  • HB1045 that would arbitrarily ban certain semi-automatic firearms in the Keystone State.

Self-defense reform should not come with a price that includes gun bans, wasteful spending on a new government-funded anti-gun leader, and gutting our state’s gun laws.

Contact the members of the House Judiciary Committee today. Based on the response to Castle Doctrine in other states, we know that gun control groups will get involved in this fight, making it seem as if we will have gun fights on every street corner. As we know, such dire predictions have yet to come true. Make sure you voice is heard! Call, e-mail, or even tweet – just make sure your voice is heard!

« Email Judiciary Committee Members with two clicks! »

« Show support for Castle Doctrine on Twitter with two clicks! »

Below are the members of the committee who have not signaled clear support for our rights on these four bills. Please focus your efforts on contacting these lawmakers.

Representative Phone Number Alternative Contact
State Rep. Thomas Caltagirone (D-127) (717) 787-3525 Email
State Rep. Kathy Manderino (D-194) (717) 787-1254 Email
State Rep. John Pallone (D-54) (717) 783-1819 Email
State Rep. Dom Costa (D-21) (717) 783-9114 Email
State Rep. Joseph Brennan (D-133) (717) 772-9902 Email
State Rep. Paul Drucker (D-157) (717) 705-2003 Email

Twitter
State Rep. Bryan Lentz (D-161) (717) 787-8574 Email

Twitter
State Rep. Josh Shapiro (D-153) (717) 783-7619 Email
Twitter
State Rep. Greg Vitali (D-166) (717) 787-7647 Email
State Rep. Chelsa Wagner (D-22) (717) 783-1582 Email
Twitter
State Rep. Ronald Waters (D-191) (717) 772-9850 Email
State Rep. Ron Marsico (R-105) (717) 783-2014  
State Rep. Mike Vereb (R-150) (717) 705-7164 Twitter
State Rep. Will Gabig (R-199) (717) 772-2280  
State Rep. Dick Stevenson (R-8) (717) 783-6438 Email
State Rep. Glen Grell (R-87) (717) 783-2063  
State Rep. Kate Harper (R-61) (717) 787-2801 Twitter
State Rep. Bernie O’Neill (R-29) (717) 705-7170 Email
State Rep. Katie True (R-41) (717) 705-7161  
Posted by
Picture of Daniel Pehrson
Daniel Pehrson
Posted on
May 24 2010 9:00:15 AM
Categories
Topics

Preemption upheld in Pennsylvania Court

The NRA has prevailed in the appeal of Philadelphia’s firearms regulations in Commonwealth Court.   The decision can be found here.  NRA tried to restore standing to challenge the other ordinances, including “Lost and Stolen,” but Commonwealth Court did not reverse the lower court’s decision on that matter, but did uphold the decision on the assault weapons ban, and one-gun-a-month ordinances.

This ruling sets us up very nicely for a future court battle on all these Lost and Stolen ordinances, provided the Supreme Court is unwilling to revisit Ortiz, which I suspect it won’t.  The City of Philadelphia is losing on virtually all their arguments.  These ordinances were never about lost and stolen guns, straw purchasers or assault weapons, but were merely a means for the City to regain the ability to violate the Pennsylvania Constitution at will, so it could ban guns.  It’s looking increasingly unlikely that ploy will work.

Posted by
Picture of Keith M.
Keith M.
Posted on
June 18 2009 8:58:02 PM
Categories
Topics

Pro-Gun Democrats Stand Up to Holder

Following on the heels of getting the Department of Defense to reverse its policy on destroying one fired brass, once again allowing it to be sold to the public, we’re quite fortunate to have sixty five pro-gun Democrats stand up to the Obama Administration on the issue of re-instituting the expired ban on so-called “Assault Weapons.”

We Pennsylvanians are fortunate to have a number of our Congressional delegation among the signers, and they deserve our thanks and praise.  Those Representatives are:

  • Tim Holden (PA-17) Dauphin, Lebanon, Schuylkill, Parts of Berks and Perry.
  • Paul Kanjorski (PA-11) Carbon, Columbia, Monroe, Lackawanna, Luzerne
  • John Murtha (PA-12) Greene County, Parts of nearly half the southwest.
  • Christopher Carney (PA-10) Wayne, Pike, Susquehanna, Bradford, Sullivan, etc
  • Jason Altmire (PA-04) Allegheny County, Beaver, Butler, parts of others.

But in addition to those above who voted to protect our Second Amendment rights, we should also note those Democrats who chose not to take any preemptive action:

  • Robert Brady (PA-01) (Philadelphia)
  • Chaka Fattah (PA-02) (Philadelphia)
  • Joe Sestak (PA-07) Delaware Co. Chester County (Part)
  • Patrick Murphy (PA-08) Bucks County, Philadelphia (Part)
  • Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) Montgomery County, Philadelphia (Part)
  • Kathleen A. Dahlkemper (PA-3) Erie County, Parts of Surrounding counties
  • Michael F Doyle (PA-14) Allegeny County (Pittsburgh)

If your representative is on the first list, call them and thank them for their support.  If they are on the latter list, ask them why they were not among the signers.

This is a very important development in terms of the likelihood we’ll be looking at a new Assault Weapons Ban in the 111th Congress.  It takes 218 votes to pass a bill out of Congress, and with these 65 Democrats, we could lose 28 Republicans, and a renewal still would not have the votes to pass the House.  If Obama wishes to pass a renewal of the failed semi-auto ban of the Clinton years, it will be, at best, an uphill battle.

But this is not to say that gun owners are out of the woods.  We still have anti-gun leadership in key positions in Congress, and still have one of the most anti-gun Presidents in history occupying the Oval Office.  This pass over the mountains may be blocked for the time being, but we must think about where they will try to cross next.

Posted by
Picture of Keith M.
Keith M.
Posted on
March 19 2009 2:23:25 PM
Categories
Topics

US Attorney General Eric Holder Suggests New Assault Weapon Ban

According to MSNBC, Obama’s new Attorney General (and historical gun-control proponent) Eric Holder has suggested re-instituting the failed Assault Weapon Ban of 1994:

“The attorney general also suggested that re-instituting a U.S. ban on the sale of assault weapons would help reduce the bloodshed in Mexico, where last year 6,000 people were killed in drug-related violence.”

This should not come as a surprise to anyone who has followed Mr. Holder’s career and nomination.

[H/T: Snowflakes In Hell]

Posted by
Picture of Daniel Pehrson
Daniel Pehrson
Posted on
February 26 2009 11:36:38 PM
Categories
Topics